Story+1988-02-29+Worcester,+MA

´´I got my car out back, you ready for a date ? (cheers)....´´
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ´Tunnel of Love´**

´´Hey man, what you been doing ?....ain´t seen you in a little while....I don´t get down here as much as I used to, you know....what you been up to ?....you got married, right....you got your kid now, right, how old, how old is he ? three, there´s a little Big Man running around out there (chuckles)....he´s about this big, he´s almost as big as me (chuckles), only three years old, he´s got a little saxophone (?)....oh jeez, that´s nice....man, I remember when we used to sit on this bench in 1975 and like....we used to get here right about 12.30, watch all the girls get out of work, you know....watch ´em walking by....we used to bring the albums with us, you know, so it was like, hope they notice....here comes, check, check this girl out in the....in the business suit, the business suit (chuckles)...man, I remember I was with you the, I was with you the night you met your wife....she came walking in the room and Clarence got all excited and....came back later and said ´Bruce, Bruce, I met the girl I´m gonna marry ´...but he used to say that about every girl that he, that he went out with (chuckles)....he was always falling in love (chuckles)....but that time, you know, you must´ve really meant it then, you really meant it....so, that´s nice....remember how it feels like the first time when...when you see somebody that, who you got your eye on, man, and she comes walking in and she´s looking so good and you´re feeling real good and you´re kind of scared and stuff...hey Ritchie, what´s it like, man ?....yeah, kind of like that (chuckles)....that´s it....well....tell her I said ´hello´, I gotta get home now, I got dinnertime....you wouldn´t believe it, like I´m in bed at 11 o´clock now (chuckles)....see you later....”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA., intro to ´All That Heaven Will Allow´**

´´How you doing out there tonight, huh ? (cheers)....how´re you guys ? (cheers)....that’s good ....I was telling the folks last night, the night before, we missed you, it´s nice to be back and see you again....when I was little kid....me and my sister, I got a sister that´s a year younger than me....but she could everything first, she could tie her shoes first, zipper her own jacket first.....my mother used to say that I used to make her get out of the carriage so I could ride (chuckles)....but we used to sleep in this little corner bedroom....in the same bed, the bed was by the window, in the summertime we´d sleep with the window open....and across the street was this woman named Audrey and her three kids ....and her husband Bill....and uh....he worked in a meat-packing plant down south like a lot of the men in the neighbourhood did.... and she kind of stayed home with the kids in the day and my mama used to always be talking about.....she was kind of, how crazy she was about her kids.....and she wasn’t, she wasn’t like on their case all the time, they had to be real neat or..... but it was just something about .....the way that she was with them, she was gentle.....and I can remember her sitting with her little girl....in the backporch in the summertime and she´d sit out in the sun and her little girl had long blonde hair, looked like it’d hardly ever been cut and there was something in the way that she brushed that little girl’s hair.....she´d take that brush and....and, and take it down real, real soft like and follow it down....with her other hand and kind of flatten it down on the back of her little girl’s neck.....and most of the men´d be home around.....6 or 7 o’clock unless they was working the nightshift.....and Bill, sometimes he’d come home and sometimes he wouldn’t......and sometimes he’d come home after having too much to drink and they´d start fighting....and where me and my sister slept....their door was right across from our window and we could always hear ‘em in the middle of the night.....and when you’re a little kid, one of the....scariest things in the whole world, I think, is listening, listening to adults argue....especially if it’s in your own house....because your house is your world when you´re small.....and, and it makes your world seem so unsafe, I can remember when my folks argued, I´d lay in bed and I would wait for daytime.....and it would seem like it would never come....well, one night Bill come home late.....and they really started to go at it....and Audrey started calling for help....and I got up out of bed and I ran into my parents’ room but my dad was gone and I got my mother and I brought her to our room and we sat by the window and we could hear her crying and we could hear her asking for somebody to please call the police....but nobody did.....and the next day, next day in the yard, I remember looking up at her, she was hanging up some laundry and she had a bruise on her cheek and her eye was kind of swollen....and she looked down at me and she walked real fast into the house.....but then she came back. and she stood at the screen door.....and she looked straight at me.....like there was something that she wanted me to see.....and time passed and people talked and people talked.....and eventually....my folks moved out West....I moved away from that little town....but I found out that the older I got....the more I kept coming back, I’d get in my car at night and I’d drive down that same highway and I´d drive down those same streets over and over again and I´d look at the houses with the lights on....and I used to imagine that people looked so safe inside and the houses seemed so warm and happy....and I kept going back like I had lost something down there, I´d park my car on the corner, get out and walk on the cracks that I walked home when I was a kid....and then one night, it was late in the summertime, I came, took my drive, parked on the corner, started walking down the street and there was a woman standing out in front of Audrey’s house.....and I was sure that it was her because one of the reasons I used to go at night was....was because I´d imagined that all the same people lived in those houses that were there when I was a kid....and I started walking fast towards this woman and I must’ve scared her, she ran up on the porch.....and I could see that...that it wasn´t her....and I walked up the street and visited a friend of mine ..... but that night when I came back, the street looked real different.....and I realised that I had changed.....and that all the people that showed me kindness or who hurt me when I was a little boy were all gone....and that the houses were filled....with strangers just like me ... searching and trying to do the best that they could to hold on to the things that they loved.... and uh, I understood that that street....didn´t belong to me anymore.....and I got in my car .... and I drove home....to my house and to my family.....”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ‘Spare Parts’**

´´Are there any brave men in the audience tonight ? (cheers)....are there any macho men out there ? (cheers).....because I’ve known men that have swim rivers.....that have climbed mountains....that wrestled with old King Kong himself....but there´s just one thing that they were afraid of....I said there was one thing that they were afraid of....now, do you know what that one thing is ?....well, I’m gonna tell you.....that one thing is L....U...V....love, they were scared to death of ...they´d run away crying like little babies....and now girls.....women, I’m talking to you too....I’m talking to the women tonight....because I’ve known women that would canoe up the Amazon fighting off alligators and crocodiles....that would jump out of an airplane at 30,000 feet....roll in down to ground parachuting....but there was one thing, just one thing that they were afraid of....and that one thing was love, I´m talking about that one thing that scares ´em is love.....and I’m down here tonight because I have a confession to make....I´ve got to get something off my shoulders....I´ve got to lay my burden down !.... and what I wanna say is I have sinned !....and I don’t care who you bring down here tonight .... you can bring down Hulk Hogan, you can bring down King Kong (?), you can bring down the Road Warriors, you can bring down Andre the Giant, I´ll take ´em on right here, I´m not afraid....but there´s something I´ve got to say....there ain´t much that I´m afraid of....but what I´ve got to testify to tonight is.... I’m a Coward when it comes to love....save me, boys !...”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ‘I’m a Coward’**

´´I was reading the papers the other day and....came across this story....”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ´Part Man Part Monkey´**

´´Have you ever been lonely ?....have you ever felt so lonely....that you didn´t wanna like call up your friends, you didn´t wanna see nobody ?....well, that´s when you gotta reach out.... find somebody that makes you feel like a human being....and I just wanna say....(?) hey, come on, baby....´´
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, end of ´Dancing in the Dark´**

´´On the piano, Roy Bittan....on the drums, Max Weinberg....on the guitar and vocals, Miss Patti Scialfa....on the guitar, the great Nils Lofgren....on the bass, Mr. Garry W.Tallent....on the organ, Phantom Dan Federici....on the horns, Ed ´Kingfish´ Manion, Richie La Bamba Rosenberg, Mark Pender, Mike Spengler, Mario Cruz, the Horns of Love.....and last but not least....gimme a C-LA-R-E-N-C-E, what´s that spell ?....what´s that spell ?....what´s that spell ?....what´s that spell ?....the Big Man, Clarence Clemons on the saxophone.....are you ready, buddy ?....´´
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, middle of ´Light of Day´**

´´Oh, thank you....I was telling the folks last night that, uh....lot of times when somebody comes up to me on the street or something, the one question they always ask is what my favorite song is that I wrote....and uh....usually I say ´Well, no, I don´t have a favorite´ but that´s bullshit, you know (chuckles) it´s like, it´s like....actually this (chuckles)....this song, I guess, this song is my favorite song.....and uh.....I don’t know if it’s my best song but.....I guess it’s kind of....one of, one of the songs I wrote when I was young that I´ve felt comfortable growing up with....and uh....I was 24 years old and sitting on the end of my bed in Long Branch, New Jersey, in this little house.....and I wrote this song....I guess I was sitting there dreaming of....who I wanted to be or....who I might be....and uh....this song´s helped me out a lot, I guess....in the end songs, songs and music, they can´t....can´t get you home but they can help you, they can help you on your search to find your way there....in the end, uh....in the end I guess everybody, it´s up to each individual to kind of....find their way home....on their own....but I hope, I hope that this song has helped you a little bit, like it helped me....”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ‘Born to Run’**

´´Yeah....wanna say, wanna thank everybody that´s been coming down to these shows the past three nights...thanks a lot....we couldn´t´ve had a better place or a better way to start our tour....so now we´re gonna go all around the world and rock ´em for you (chuckles)...well, this is something little special we learned this afternoon that I wanna do for you....and the one that you love....”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ´Love Me Tender´**

´´Who are we trying to kid ?....´Devil´, boys....”
 * 29.02.88 Worcester, MA, intro to ´Detroit Medley´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//